As survivors of the St Tropez restaurant shooting prepared to march
against violence, another man was shot dead on Monday in a Durban
inner city tavern.

Don Smith, 35, the manager of the Sugar Shack Tavern in Smith Street,
was shot dead and the 36-year-old owner was wounded as an armed gang
stormed into the popular watering hole just before noon.

"The gang immediately opened fire and the owner of tavern was shot and
killed," police spokesperson, Supintendent Muzi Mngomezulu said.

Police later questioned a group of about 15 patrons who sat amid
several spent cartridges and broken bottles strewn across the tavern
during the fracas.

A forensic sniffer dog trained to detect spent ammunition was brought
in to track down clues.

ER24 acting spokesperson Andre Botha said the owner was shot in the
chest and leg and died at the scene.

"The patron was wounded under his right armpit and taken to Addington hospital."

Police said no money was taken and the gang fled on foot.

Mandy du Plessis, organiser of Walk for Peace and close friend of the
Joubert family (restaurant patron Marc Joubert, 30 died at St Tropez),
said this latest incident proved crime was just out of control in
Durban and its suburbs.

"It doesn't matter where it is - in the city or suburb - it's just out
of control. The only way to combat crime is to come together. Crime
does not discriminate, it affects all South Africans. The prayer is to
bring in spirituality because it's possibly the biggest power we can
have in our life," she said.

# The walk starts at Snake Park at 8am and ends with a prayer for
Durban at uShaka Marine World on Saturday.

o This article was originally published on page 5 of Daily
News on July 31, 2007